Taipei Original Festival

Taipei Arts Festival is one of the city government’s most important cultural-related policies. The festival is co-organized by Taipei City’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Taipei Culture Foundation to encourage young artists to exercise their creativity and talents.

It also serves as a platform for sharing resources and enhancing collaboration among artists and artistic groups.First launched in 1999, the annual festival has regularly provided unique experience to citizens with a variety of artistic performances and exhibitions, bringing them great memories.

In 2008, Taipei Arts Festival had a brand new start, revamping itself under the themes of creativity and variety. Under the new slogan “Bravo Only,” the festival has introduced local and international shows to Taipei, highlighting the festival’s modernity and creativity.

Now the Taipei Arts Festival is not only a highly-anticipated annual art fest but also an important platform to cultivate new talents and bring new energy to local cultural creative industry.

It is a well-known brand both in Taiwan and in the global stage where arts community is eager to participate year after year.

The annual event also boosted Taipei’s tourism business and put the city under international spotlight.

Art can change the way people see the world. Through the intermediary of art, we are able to create new sensory experiences in our daily lives, from which both creators and audiences can derive great energy.

Each year, the Taipei Arts Festival procures brilliant works from Taiwan and around the world to create dialogues with the audience in the theater space, and instill the power of creativity into the capital city of Taipei, energizing its creative atmosphere.

The 18th Taipei Arts Festival is based on the concept “ Art Can Change Lives!” and it brings together artists from France, Germany, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Italy, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan to present 11 brilliant works. The wide variety of themes include life, history, ethnic groups, gender, and many other topics, while forms of presentation include theater, music, dance, cirque nouveau, and cross talk, all of which fully showcase the creativity and vitality of the performing arts.

This year’s festival will for the first time also embody diversity by featuring performances by high school students and Hakka people. In addition to the theater performances, there will be a documentary version of the play Hamlet, professional theater workshops, lectures, and more, bringing different facets of the arts into people’s lives.

2016 Taipei Arts Festival Artistic Director Yi-Wei Keng said,“ The Taipei Arts Festival is a platform. I hope on that platform performing troupes will be able to develop and gain valuable experience through the yearly gathering.” He further noted that the programs are expected to become “ a window that allows the audience to feel and see a different world and to become more responsive by knowing that experiencing art can change our lives.”

In recent years, the festival has been taking steps to build bridges with similar events and organizations in other countries, as well as introducing popular works in international art circles to Taiwanese audiences through the co-produced international festivals. For instance, the play “ God Bless Baseball”—jointly produced by Taipei Arts Festival, Festival/Tokyo, and Asian Culture Complex-Asian Arts Theatre—was the opening program for South Korea’s Asian Culture Complex-Asian Arts Theatre in September 2015. After it hit the stage at the Festival/Tokyo in November 2015, the show toured in North America and had its Taipei homecoming in September 2016.

Outstanding Taiwanese and international artists have been invited to the event, which also gives them the opportunity to bring their works into the international performance market, while increasing the visibility of Taipei and Taiwanese troupes.

The 2016 TAF will run for six weeks, from Sept. 9 to Oct. 16, at several venues, including Taipei Cultural Center City Stage, Wellspring Theater, Zhongshan Hall, and the Daan Forest Park outdoor Music Hall. Tickets can be purchased at TAF booths at Zhongshan Hall, Taipei Water Park, and Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, or online at www.artsticket.com.tw.

For more information, please visit the official TAF website at www.taipeifestival.org.tw.